Language

The good ol' Aussie accent has its origins in drunken slurring. Audio

Tokelauans around New Zealand are hoping that this week's events will help revive their endangered language. Audio

Operatore didattico at the Vatican Museums in Rome, who leads tours, lectures, and conducts seminars on theological aesthetics or the interdisciplinary study of religion and art. Audio

The Geographic Board is proposing getting rid of three South Island place names which incoporate the n-word. Audio

Three of New Zealand's most offensive and controversial place names will be replaced if the public supports a proposal before the Geographic Board. Audio

Naked Scientist Dr Chris Smith with the latest science news. Locating epilepsy in the brain and research on babies' ability to mimic sounds reveals the important role our tongues play in learning… Audio

Director of Wellington theatre company The Bacchanals, whose next production is Isaac Asimov's A Christmas Karel Capek at BATS in December. He discusses Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. Audio

Literary scholar, critic, and senior editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books, who teaches at Claremont McKenna College. His article about annotation, Down the Rabbit Hole, was published recently in… Audio

Tom Roa has spent the past three years, translating Alice in Wonderland into te reo Māori. Tom is a senior lecturer at the School of Maori and Pacific Development at the University of Waikato. And he… Audio

Patrick Evans is the author of the first biography of the writer Janet Frame. His play based on his 2010 novel, Gifted, is playing at Wellington's Circa Theatre, and his new novel, The Back of His… Audio

Crimes against grammar are on the rise as is the snobbery around using proper English. Audio

Do non-human animals have language? What is the memory capacity of other species? Can animals learn abstract concepts and show creativity? These are some of the questions tackled by Victoria… Audio

Kate Camp has published five collections of poems, most recently Snow White's Coffin. She discusses Joan Didion's 2005 memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking. Audio

Welsh performers who are touring New Zealand with their acclaimed show Hiraeth, telling the story of Jones' departure from her Welsh farm to London. Audio

Australian children's book author and comedy writer whose books include The Day My Bum Went Psycho, and the Just! series with illustrator Terry Denton. His latest series with Denton started in 2011… Audio

The former Labour Party President Mike Williams who now teaches literacy in prisons says there's no need for Te Reo Maori in prisons. Audio

A visiting Brazilian linguist will give a series of free public lectures, on the importance of nurturing indigenous languages globally. Dr Marcus Maia is an associate professor of linguistics at the… Audio

Author of many books, most recently From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle (Longacre), and ambassador for the first NZ Bookshop Day. She will discuss two picture book authors, Peter Brown and Mini… Audio

Staff writer and book critic at The New Yorker, and Professor of the Practice of Literary Criticism at Harvard University. His latest collection of essays is The Nearest Thing to Life. Audio

Photographer and social historian, Matika Wilbur talks about her mission to photograph every native American tribe in the US. Audio, Gallery